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LOS ANGELES - August 7, 2014 - According to Fandango, the nation's leading moviegoer destination, Michael Bay's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' (opening tonight) is shredding its way to the top of the company's Fanticipation movie buzz indicator, scoring a powerful 89 out of 100 points, while "Guardians of the Galaxy" stands strong with 87 points in its second week.

Moviegoers are shelling out big time for "Turtles," with the movie leaping to the top of Fandango's weekend ticket pre-sales. Representing a major slice of tickets since Monday, "Turtles" shows no signs of slowing. It is outpacing both 2009's "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra" and 2013's "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" at the same point in the Fandango sales cycle.

Fandango surveyed more than 1,000 "Turtles" ticket-buyers on its site and found that:87% watched the cartoon series;82% had seen one of the previous movies;72% are fans of the film's producer, Michael Bay;57% are fans of the film's star, Megan Fox;56% picked Michelangelo as their favorite turtle. "Like last week's blockbuster, ‘Guardians,' ‘Turtles' is a family-oriented action movie appealing to tweens and teens as well as parents looking for a fantasy nostalgia trip," says Fandango Chief Correspondent Dave Karger. "Throw in some giant action set-pieces courtesy of producer Michael Bay, and you've got the recipe for a late summer hit."

Fandango is unveiling original artwork and videos inspired by "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," including a unique time lapse video of Cleveland-based artist George Vlosich recreating the famous "Turtles" characters as an incredible Etch A Sketch portrait. Fandango is also debuting exclusive fan-created "Turtles" artwork (by Tracy Tubera) and an exclusive "Ninja Turtles" infographic by Kansas City artist Rachel Ignotofsky.

About Fandango's FanticipationKnown for having its finger on the pulse of moviegoers, Fandango's movie buzz indicator, Fanticipation, provides statistical insight into the movies fans are planning to see in a given weekend. Fanticipation scores (based on a 1 to 100-point scale) are calculated via an algorithm of Fandango's advance ticket sales, website and mobile traffic, and social media engagement. Fanticipation is not intended as a forecast of the weekend box office; it is a snapshot of movie fan sentiment.

Guardians of the Galaxy continued to light the box office on fire on Tuesday with $11.91 million. The 3D sci-fi superhero film from Disney and Marvel increased a slim 2 percent over Monday's performance. That represented the day's poorest percentage hold among wide releases, which was quite understandable given the size of the film's daily grosses. Guardians of the Galaxy continues to exceed expectations with a very strong $117.95 million in its first five days of release. Thanks in part to stronger midweek summer grosses, Guardians of the Galaxy is now running an impressive 9 percent ahead of the $108.22 million five-day start of Captain America: The Winter Soldier earlier this year.

Universal's Lucy held steady in a distant second with $2.58 million. The modestly budgeted sci-fi action film starring Scarlett Johansson was up a respectable 11 percent over Monday, but still down 53 percent from last Tuesday. Lucy has grossed a stronger than expected $84.44 million in twelve days. That places the film 11 percent ahead of the $76.36 million twelve-day take of 2010's Salt.

Hercules took in $1.63 million to remain in third place. The Dwayne Johnson led 3D action-adventure film from Paramount and MGM was up 15 percent over Monday and down a sharp 57 percent from last Tuesday. Hercules continues to outpace its relatively modest pre-release expectations with $55.71 million in twelve days. However, the film also continues to display signs of significant front-loading.

Universal's Get on Up claimed fourth place with $1.33 million. The James Brown biopic starring Chadwick Boseman increased a modest 7 percent over Monday. Get on Up has grossed a softer than expected $16.16 million in five days and isn't showcasing the most promising daily percentage holds thus far. With that in mind, the film's hold this upcoming weekend will be especially important.

Fox's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes rounded out the day's unchanged top five with $1.29 million. The 3D sci-fi action sequel was up 12 percent over Monday and down 49 percent from last Tuesday. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes continues to exceed expectations with a 26-day take of $191.75 million. That leaves the film just $8.25 million away from reaching the $200 million domestic milestone.

Wednesday Morning Update: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the only one of the four new upcoming wide openers with any increase to speak of on Tuesday. It rose 8% to 16,799 tweets on Tuesday, up from 15,434 tweets on Monday. Its Facebook numbers rose to 880,948 likes, up from 859,737 likes the day before. No matter how you slice it, an 8% bump three days before release for a film which is attempting to appeal to a very wide demographic base is pretty poor. Yes its overall numbers are hefty but this was always to be expected given the very vocal and passionate fanbase for the big green guys. Without a big influx of new buzz this week it is going to have a hard time even breaking $40 million.

Into The Storm suffered a 24% drop to 7,030 tweets on Tuesday, down from 9,255 on Monday while Facebook rose just under 4,000 likes to 342,814 on the day. This drop was actually less than I had pictured and so far on Wednesday it is actually very close to Turtles which is a strong sign. This is definitely pulling ahead of the others for second place amongst the new openers given these returns.

Step Up All In also had a fall on Tuesday as it slipped to 5,062 tweets, down 18% from 6,169 tweets on Monday. By comparison, Step Up Revolution had 13,280 tweets its Tuesday before release. While release week increases have always been tiny for the Step Up franchise a drop as big as this is new territory. Throw in the fact that it is running at less than half the buzz from the last installment two years ago I have a hard time seeing anything more than $10 million here.

The Hundred Foot Journey rose a mammoth 1 tweet on Tuesday to 942 tweets. I'm not as concerned with its social media returns because of its target audience but these paltry numbers despite a unique title tell me that the film is not going to seep into other demographics outside of its 50+ core and as such anything more than high single digits won't be possible.

Guardians of the Galaxy continued to light the box office on fire on Monday with a first place take of $11.72 million. The 3D sci-fi superhero film from Disney and Marvel was down a healthy 54 percent from Sunday's performance, which is a good early sign for the film going forward. Guardians of the Galaxy surpassed the $100 million domestic mark on Monday and has grossed a stronger than expected $106.04 million in four days. Thanks in part to stronger midweek summer grosses, Guardians of the Galaxy is now running an impressive 5 percent ahead of the $101.24 million four-day start of Captain America: The Winter Soldier earlier this year. In a summer full of sequels, Guardians of the Galaxy is benefiting from offering moviegoers an event film that feels new and different.

Universal's Lucy placed in a distant second with $2.32 million. The modestly budgeted sci-fi action film starring Scarlett Johansson was down 57 percent from Sunday and down 53 percent from last Monday. Lucy surpassed the $80 million domestic mark on Monday and continues to exceed expectations with a strong eleven-day take of $81.86 million. That places the film 11 percent ahead of the $73.64 million eleven-day take of 2010's Salt.

Hercules claimed third place on Monday with $1.42 million. The Dwayne Johnson led 3D action-adventure film from Paramount and MGM fell 59 percent from Sunday and a sharp 57 percent from last Monday. Hercules continues to outpace its relatively modest pre-release expectations with $54.08 million in eleven days. However, the film also continues to display signs of significant front-loading.

Universal's Get on Up landed in fourth with $1.25 million. The James Brown biopic starring Chadwick Boseman was down a troubling 65 percent from Sunday, which represented the day's poorest daily hold among wide releases. Get on Up has grossed a softer than expected $14.83 million in its first four days. Given what looks to be relatively soft midweek business based on Monday's hold, the film's hold this upcoming weekend will now be even more important.

Fox's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes rounded out the day's top five with $1.14 million. The critically acclaimed 3D sci-fi action sequel was down 58 percent from Sunday and down 48 percent from last Monday. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes continues to exceed expectations with a 25-day take of $190.46 million. That leaves the film just $9.54 million away from reaching the $200 million domestic milestone.

Tuesday Morning Update: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led this week's newcomers handily on Monday, accounting for 15,434 tweets and 859,737 likes on the day. The film has the broadest appeal and indeed biggest marketing push of any of the four new wide releases on the weekend and as such it would be a shock if it didn't come out on top. The Ninja Turtle franchise has a storied past which has made it one of the most popular over the last thirty years including four previous films which has accumulated over $500 million in adjusted North American earnings. That's the good news, the bad is that the market is filled with deadly competition from Guardians Of The Galaxy which hits the exact same target audience, and with a budget of $125 million this has a really high bar for success. By comparison, Transformers: Age Of Extinction had 17,087 tweets and just over 32 million likes (they didn't have a Facebook page dedicated to that particular film, only for the franchise) while Godzilla had 40,223 tweets and 1,117,896 likes. The social media footprint here is definitely sizeable but with poor reviews flooding in and tainting the sentiment and what is sure to be a very strong holdover in Guardians it has an uphill struggle to attain profitability during its run in theaters.

Into The Storm had a very strong Monday on Twitter thanks to its New York premiere which it rode all the way to a 9,255 day. Facebook on the other hand has been much more reserved and its like total of 339,923 leaves a lot to be desired. I'm anxious to see what its tweets fall to for Tuesday as the news of the premiere wanes but based on early numbers (which has seen it fall to 16th place on the day so far) I believe its going to be a hefty decline. The film was hoping for a Twister-type appeal but with a crowded market place, no big stars, poor reviews and less than stellar social media buzz low double digits might be its best bet.

Step Up All In had 6,169 tweets on Monday (since its another franchise that reuses its Facebook page a likes comparison is virtually useless her to other films) up 75% from 3,525 tweets on Sunday. This marks the fifth entry in the Step Up franchise and while its domestic totals has decreased with every release ($65 million, to $58, to $42 to $35) its international cume has more than doubled over the same span. By comparison, Step Up Revolution had 11,149 tweets its Monday before release. Step Up films have tended to have weak expansion during its release week as it has always had a vocal fan base so unless it has massive increases from day to day this week to signal something out of the ordinary I find it hard seeing it do anything more than $10 million at max.

Last up is The Hundred Foot Journey which finished Monday with a slim 941 tweets and 26,896 likes. Paltry numbers at face value but the target audience here are going to be over 50 and as such will leave the smallest social media footprint. Its going to be a crowded race for second spot amongst the new openers because I can see this too opening in the low double digit range possibly. Let's see how the numbers tomorrow look but the only sure bet on the weekend amongst the four openers is that Turtles will be on top.